Latest news with #RobHunter
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hepher leaves Exeter by mutual consent after 16 years
Long-serving Exeter Chiefs coach Ali Hepher has left the Premiership club by mutual 50-year-old had been suspended from his role as backs and attack coach last month in the wake of Exeter's club-record 79-17 loss at former Northampton fly-half had been part of Exeter's coaching set-up since 2009 when he joined then newly-appointed boss Rob was promoted to head coach in 2017, but was demoted earlier this year as Chiefs suffered their worst season since promotion to the Premiership in are ninth in England's top flight having lost 12 of their 16 had been due to take on a role transitioning players between the academy and first team this of rugby Baxter has refused to comment on whether former Newcastle boss Dave Walder will take over Hepher's role - despite being pictured in a club photograph during a training session last week. Under Hepher's time at the club Exeter won two Premiership titles and the 2020 European Champions exit comes soon after Rob Hunter - who succeeded him as head coach - also left."Ali has contributed immensely to Exeter Rugby Club over a long period of sustained success," chairman Tony Rowe said in a statement."His influence on our coaching environment and playing culture has been considerable and I would like to wish him all the best for the future."Baxter added: "Working alongside Ali for so many seasons has been a genuine privilege."His insight, energy, and passion for the game have helped drive this club forward in countless ways and I know everyone here will join me in thanking him for all he's done."
Times
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Exeter Chiefs have to grow up, says Rob Baxter despite six-try win
Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter gave a brutal assessment of his side's performance despite their victory over Premiership champions Northampton Saints. On the face of it, Exeter got 'back on the horse' after scoring six converted tries in the wake of their record 79-17 league defeat at Gloucester a fortnight earlier, which led to the departure of the recently appointed head coach Rob Hunter. However, it was against a much weakened Northampton, who made 14 changes from the starting XV that triumphed so superbly in the Champions Cup semi-final at Leinster eight days before, and with six of Saints' match-day 23 making their Premiership debuts. Chiefs made very hard work of it, and Baxter, who has now moved back into a frontline coaching
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Exeter need to 'grow up' despite rare win
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter says he is not happy with the standards his side set in their 42-14 win over Saints fielding a second-string team as they focus on the European Champions Cup final, Exeter's frontline squad earned a bonus-point it came despite a host of errors which upset the Exeter boss, who has taken control of coaching after the removal of head coach Rob Hunter and suspension of backs coach Ali Hepher in the wake of their club-record 79-17 loss at Gloucester."We've got to just grow up a little bit," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon."I think it's almost like everything that goes wrong is a bit unfair. The only things that went wrong in today's game are the things we let happen or made happen."If I can get on top of the lads then we've got a bit of a chance. But I'm not going to back down from setting high standards for the players." Baxter says he is "really looking forward to pre-season" as he tries to put the worst campaign in Exeter's recent history behind victory was just Exeter's fourth in the league this season - although as with the win over Saracens in January, it came against a side shorn of its international stars. Chiefs remain second-from-bottom, where they are guaranteed to finish, which will be their worst-ever top-flight season since promotion in 2010 - no matter how they fare against Harlequins and Sale in their final two fixtures."This is a really good opportunity for us now because we are going against two teams, and I have expectations of us being top-four next season," added Baxter, who has led Exeter to two league titles and the 2020 European Champions Cup."The first thing I'm going to say on Tuesday is 'let's see who the men are, who are the kind of players who can be a top-four person are, because right here and now some of you are almost refusing to do basic things that look after you', and we've got to get over that very, very quickly."
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Rob Baxter gives Exeter ‘10-minute b------ing' despite Northampton win
Exeter Chiefs 42 Northampton Saints 14 There has seldom been a dull day at Sandy Park of late. And, off the back of a lacklustre if comfortable victory over a Northampton second string, Exeter's director of rugby, Rob Baxter, gave his side a '10-minute b------ing' to add yet another emotional day to 2025's constantly growing list. It was less than two weeks ago that first-team coaches Rob Hunter and Ali Hepher were relieved of their duties, with Baxter returning to front-line coaching pending a review of the entire elite operation at the Chiefs. 'I've just said to them now: 'Alright, I've just b-----ed you for 10 minutes, but it's your time now – do what you like,' said Baxter. 'But you had better turn up on Tuesday ready to explain some of the things we are doing.', Baxter said. 'That's always been my approach. That's the Exeter Chiefs DNA. You go hard when you have to, and then you go hard when you don't, too. That's what it is. 'We have got to get back to the core fundamental strengths we built the team on. That we don't beat ourselves first and, if you don't beat yourself, it takes a good team to beat you. We are beating ourselves in so many areas of the game at the moment. 'I am not going to give the lads an easy way out and go in the changing room and say: 'Well done, five-point win, hallelujah, all our problems are solved.' I have gone in there and said: 'Guys, that is a regulation win, if that, against a Premiership second team and we have a lot to work on.' There is only one way you deal with [basic errors], not to say 'play without fear', that is a load of rubbish, everybody knows that. What you do is set your standards high enough in training so it doesn't feel like pressure. 'There are things that aren't acceptable and things that are. Professional rugby players do need to be able to pass the ball to someone who's five metres away. And in front of them. That is not being harsh on a player. That's an expectation they should have of each other.' Baxter was right to be grumpy. Exeter's opposition on Sunday, Northampton, arrived at Sandy Park having made 15 changes (one positional) from the Dublin dream last Saturday, with their Lions quartet rested. Six members of the Saints' match day 23 – and two starters – were making Premiership debuts. The loss meant that Northampton are now mathematically out of the play-off race but they have other priorities; the squad rotation was very much with one eye on a Champions Cup final against Bordeaux in just under a fortnight's time. It meant that Exeter were fancied to earn a comprehensive victory, their first league win since March, but the visitors gave it a real lash. The scoreline might look like a hammering but two late Exeter tries – the second of a brace each for Paul Brown-Bampoe and Harvey Skinner – flattered the Chiefs. Thanks to first-half tries from Jake Garside and captain Tom Lockett, it was a one-score match until Martin Moloney's try after an hour but even then a Saints smash-and-grab could not have been ruled out. Another one for Exeter Chiefs ⚡️ Paul Brown-Bampoe cannot be caught on his way to the try line 💨 What a breakout season the wing is having! #GallagherPrem #EXEvNOR — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 11, 2025 Thankfully, the Chiefs - who will finish this season with their lowest ever Premiership points tally - entered the half-time break with a cushion. Tries from Exeter debutant Nick Lilley and an intercept from Skinner had cancelled out the Saints' pair before an astute finish from Bampoe-Brown gave Exeter daylight. From there, the Chiefs still looked bereft of confidence, but a late rearguard spared a full-scale Baxter meltdown. 'We made some mistakes in pre-season [last year],' the director of rugby added. 'We didn't challenge the guys enough physically, which probably means that sometimes they don't feel quite as physically prepared as they could be. 'By the time we start pre-season, I will have reviewed every bit of the programme: S&C, physio, everything. And, if it's not absolutely top notch, we'll be changing it. The one thing I can't do is criticise the players if everything off the field is not absolutely perfect; to give them a chance to thrive. If we get that bit right, I can then tell them that my expectations are for them to go flat out, as professional rugby players. If we're not providing it for you, then you need to tell me – because I'm coming after you hard. 'I'll do the review. And I'll get it right. Then, next season, it'll be on me if it's not.' Match details Scoring sequence: 5-0 Lilley try, 7-0 Slade con, 7-5 Garside try, 7-7 James con, 12-7 Skinner try, 14-7 Slade con, 19-7 Brown-Bampoe try, 21-7 Slade con, 21-12 Lockett try, 21-14 James con, 26-14 Moloney try, 28-14 Slade con, 33-14 Brown-Bampoe try, 35-14 Slade con, 40-14 Skinner try, 42-14 Hodge con. H-T: 21-7 Exeter: J Hodge; N Lilley, H Slade (Haydon-Wood 77), W Rigg (Tua 49), P Brown-Bampoe; H Skinner, S Townsend (Cairns 51); S Sio (Blose 20), J Yeandle (Frost 51), M Street (Iosefa-Scott 45), R Tuima (Tshiunza 62), D Jenkins (capt), J Vermeulen (Moloney 51), R Capstick, E Roots. Yellow card: Rigg 21 Northampton: J Garside; T Cousins, T Seabrook, T Litchfield, W Glister (Witheat 66); T James (Baker 51), J Weimann; T West (Haffar 22), H Walker (Wright 41), E Millar-Mills (Green 41), E Prowse, C Munga, T Lockett (capt) (Hunter-Hill 59), F Brown (Logan 76), A Scott-Young (Benson 68). Referee: K Dickson Attendance: 8,899
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Gloucester dismantle Exeter in record-breaking West Country derby victory
Premiership beatings do not come much heavier than this record-breaking West Country derby annihilation. There was nowhere for Exeter to hide on this bright but brutal Sunday in Gloucestershire as a rampant home side rattled up 13 tries to revitalise their ambitions of making the playoffs and inflict the heaviest defeat in the visitors' top-division history. It would have been a proper cricket score had Gloucester not missed half a dozen conversions and it was all but inevitable from an early stage that Exeter's previous widest losing margin of 43 points would be blown away. Being booed by the Shed is one thing, hearing laughter ring around the ground is another level of embarrassment. The club's chairman, Tony Rowe, could be seen laying down the law in the away dressing room after the game, clearly stung by this non-performance from a team theoretically building for next season. 'That was my worst day as a coach,' said the head coach, Rob Hunter, part of the backroom staff who helped Exeter win the European and domestic double just five years ago. 'It's in no way acceptable for us to perform like that and we haven't tried to hide away from that in the changing room. 'Tony's entirely entitled to come in and fire in to everybody. He's put a lot of time and effort into the club and everyone's expectations should be way, way higher than that. Fair play to Gloucester but we gifted them momentum at almost every opportunity.' While defeat at Saracens last weekend put a dent in Gloucester's top-four aspirations, no one will be in a rush to face George Skivington's side on this kind of form. With three games still to play – away at Harlequins and Newcastle, and at home against Northampton – they sit one point behind fourth-placed Bristol and two points ahead of sixth-placed Saracens. In addition to the outstanding Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams and the deadly duo of Jack Singleton and Seb Atkinson, who contributed five tries between them, the watching England head coach, Steve Borthwick, will also have taken note of several hardworking England-qualified forwards who must be pushing hard for loftier recognition. The hooker Seb Blake has been a handful all season while the back-rowers Jack Clement and Lewis Ludlow and the prop Afolabi Fasogbon also caught the eye in a vibrant team performance. To say nothing went right for Exeter would be to put it politely. They had apparently enjoyed an upbeat training week but any semblance of confidence was eviscerated by six Gloucester tries inside the first half‑hour. Two powerful driven mauls brought scores for Clement and Seb Blake before the floodgates truly opened and some extravagant offloading delivered a smashing try for a delighted Ludlow. Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'. If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you're on the most recent version. In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications. Turn on sport notifications. The Shed was soon purring again in the sunshine as Chris Harris, Seb Atkinson and Gareth Anscombe added further tries to extend the margin to 36-0. Exeter did belatedly string together a few attacking phases in the opposing 22, which allowed Josh Hodge to put his side on the board, but the slickness of Gloucester's handling, the inability of Exeter to slow down the ball and some ineffectual tackling all combined to ensure a lopsided contest. Perhaps the most outrageous assist of the lot was a 30-yard pass over the top from Williams to his left wing, Jake Morris, which sailed over the heads of multiple opponents and ended with Santiago Carreras sending Williams over. Gloucester are not perfect but their attack coach, James Lightfoot-Brown, has clearly been doing some excellent work. It was much the same story after the interval as Jamal Ford‑Robinson and Christian Wade, via an unselfish assist from Carreras, brought up Gloucester's half-century inside 50 minutes. Wade is off to play rugby league in Wigan where he will find life a whole lot tougher. Even the cavalry off the bench made little difference for the visitors, the defence melting away faster than leftover Easter eggs in the sun to permit a second try for Seb Atkinson and more easy pickings for Singleton, who collected a hat-trick of tries inside 12 minutes. Even the most exhausted London Marathon runners will feel less shattered than the Chiefs when they limp back to work this week. 'The reality is that good vibes are not enough,' Hunter said. 'We definitely went a little bit missing. Not having a game next week is probably a good thing for us. We're not going to brush past this.'
